MCE 440 – MECHANICS OF COMPOSITE MATERIALS

Description: (Lecture, 3 credits) Introduction to the basic concepts of the mechanical behavior of composite materials. Analysis and performance of fiber-reinforced composites. Special design considerations and experimental characterization of composites.

Pre-requisite: CVE 220

Instructor: Professor Hamouda Ghonem, Office: Engineering Building Rm 212, Phone: 874-2909, Email: ghonem@uri.edu

Learning Objectives:  After completing this course, the student will be able to:

  1. predict composite properties based on micromechanical theories
  2. perform stress and strain analysis in anisotropic and orthotropic materials having continuous fiber reinforcement
  3. model thermal/moisture effects on mechanical properties  of CFRC composite materials.
  4. use Classical Lamination Theory to examine the role of individual plies on the global and local axial, bending and twisting deformation of laminates.
  5. use failure theories for multiaxial loading to determine the composite survivability.

Course Requirements: Only the basic concepts introduced in an undergraduate strength-of-materials course is necessary.  The course, however, requires the knowledge of matrix analysis as well as the use of computational programs (examples are: MATLAB, and Microsoft Excel).

Text : Stress Analysis of Fiber-Reinforced Composite Materials, Michael Hyer, McGraw Hill, 1997

Course Topics:

PART 1: INTRODUCTION:

  • Composite Applications
  • Composite Constituents: Fibers and Matrix
  • Manufacturing Techniques:

PART 2: MECHANICS OF FIBER REINFORCED COMPOSITES

  • Micromechanics
  • Principles of Elastic-Anisotropy
  • Elastic Constants of Unidirectional Composite
  • Linear Stress–strain Relations for Fiber Reinforced
  • Plane Stress-Strain Relations in Global Coordinates:

PART 3: CLASSICAL LAMINATION THEORIES

  • The Kirchhoff Hypothesis
  • Laminate Displacements, Strains and Stresses
  • Force and Moment Resultant
  • Laminate Stiffness: The ABD Matrix:

PART 4: FAILURE THEORIES

  • Strength Ratio and Strength of a single layer of CFRC
  • Max Stress Criterion
  • Max Strain Criterion
  • Tsai-Hill Criterion
  • Tsai-Wu Criterion
  • Fiber-Matrix Failure Criterion
  • First Ply Failure
  • Fiber Failure:

PART 5: EXPERIMENTAL CHARACTERIZATION

  • Interface analysis of fiber reinforced composites
  • Experimental characterization of composite materials